Indiana Beach Fun Trip 08.08.08

We went on our annual trip to "the beach"-which is Indiana beach, a fun amusement park nearby our hometown.

We love this trip for tons of reasons-it is close to home, the tickets were free because I am (for at least 2 more shifts anyways) a SSFHS employee, it is big enough to have awesome attractions but small enough to not be too crowded to enjoy it, it is clean and well-kept, it has a great water park and neat rides, and it's just a really nice place to spend the day;-).

Owen enjoyed it more than ever and all of us had a great, fun day!

Here's a photo recap:

We started off on the sand beach...




Jake snorkeling (or at least trying to learn how;-)


TJ snorkeling (a seasoned pro, of course;-)




Oh no Mr. Bill!




Owen's 1st time on the frog hopper (he LOVED it!!!!;-)


Owen's 20th time (not kidding, he rode it over and over for 30 minutes solid and at times-like this one, he rode it ALL ALONE!!!;-)


I love capturing moments like these;-)


The gross carp (they call them bugle mouth bass, but they aren't) that swarm for food-yuck!


We went on the Shafer Queen, which is a 30 minute very relaxing (aka boring in TJ's words) boat ride along the lake and I captured the boys (reluctantly) site seeing and enjoying (aka tolerating) a great view of the boardwalk.



Above 2008 Below 2007 My, how they've grown!


Since Owen refuses my incessant needs to take pictures that capture growth, etc, he had to stay in the stroller for a shot including him.


Owen LOVES the rides and it's sad how few there are that he can enjoy but we're thankful there are a few to choose from that he can go on without us....how bout the one where he has his arms up...what a ride fanatic!




Mommy loves how the rides tuckered him out...they all slept well on the way home and then we headed to WI to visit the "up North clan" the next day-a post to follow re: that trip.

AGT installment 1-The semi-finalists revealed

First I must ask...how does one truly pick who is worthy of having a hour and a half show in Vegas in a 90 second segment...

Also, how will they tell those 2 cute lil kids no? Seriously...I bet they put them thru just cuz they are cute-that's my prediction. But truly: they won't be young and cute forever-can you say Olsen Twins?

I thought it was strange that I had never seen some of the acts they had to vote on tonight...I'm sure it's just an editing issue.

How can they not put thru the Soldier? Seriously-he's easy on the eyes, a war hero and he rocks!

And, how would you feel if you were a famous female pop artist that had a guy impersonating you? I'm not thinking the impersonators will make it far-but that's just MO.

Being picked for the semi-finals:

1. Elvis Guy
2. R&B singer fella that is really buff
3. Violin playing bra-thes
4. Strange bald guy with a goatee -a Magician maybe
5. 4 bra-thes that wear old time clothes and sing
6. Tina Turner impersonator-scary
7. Family that plays together
8. Fella that I never-I mean never saw before who said he was being a mime in a box-wore a green stripe shirt-have no idea what his act was-comedy-maybe?
9. 3 kids/siblings that played instruments
10. Fella that wears a hat and earring and plays the piano really well while singing
11. Another crazy dark haired dude, that I don't remember-maybe he had an accent or something.
12. 2 singing sisters, scantily clad that actually got 2 x's in the original audition (how does that happen-oh cuz you stink)
13. Sinatra impersonator that is 72 and needed the AED after hearing he was going thru
14. 4 year old cutie pie Katelyn that sings (could she have been any less excited and could Piers have hugged her any less lovingly?).
15. Daniel the soldier who sang and played guitar
16. Dark haired fella that I'd never seen before and have know idea what his talent was-magic maybe?
17. Pyro dude wearing weird coat with no shirt
18. Little girl that does self defense against bad guys (which is totally not a talent)
19. Opera singing dude (yes I say dude b/c s/he has an adam's apple but they Say he's a girl which peeves me to no end. I mean seriously, how do you think he hits those low notes-duh!
20. Drum playing dudes that remind me a lot of stomp or the blue men group
21. Blonde country singing girl that plays guitar
22. Second bald magician
23. Work suit wearing trumpet playing dancing white guy (that I don't remember ever seeing before;-(
24. 40 yr old Big momma Queen Emily with some lungs and award winning drama;-) But seriously, those judges sure can break a person down before letting them thru! And I'm calling it now-she will go far;-) Question: when you cry with false eye lashes on, do you risk them falling off? Just wondering.
25. A personal fav-the sparkle shirt wearing, baton throwing dude-simply awesome! He's truly talented and under rated and I loved when the Elvis impersonator hugged him-awwwww!
26. Jessica the 24 yr old cute gal from MI who sings so well and has such natural beauty-inside and out;-) And she cried like a baby when they told her and it was so humble and genuine;-)
27. 5 blow up figures that are really a side show act for a sporting event and not Vegas material, though I think they are hilarious to watch
28. Britney Spears impersonator-dude-yes dude. Who might I add, his male body is better than mine times a hundred. His name is Derrick. Weird. I so want to see what he looks like as a HE.
29. nasty dancer girls
30. More dancer girls
31. More dancer girls (boring)
32. Dancer guys
33. Dancing dads
34. More dancer girls(seriously?)
35. More dancing guys
36. More Dancing teens (another prediction-a dancer/dancing group WILL not be in the final round, nor win the competition:-) IMO of course.
37. Big dude that sings opera-whitie
38. Big dude that sings opera-not whitie (and I am so glad b/c I liked him so much more than the other dude who did make it also;-)
39. awesome Russian bendy stick flipping girl with 2 pole holding studs (but she suffered an injury and was replaced by an alternate:
39. we get to decide from wild card picks Singing dad (I did like him), contortionist (no idea how to spell) girl, Dancing couple (come one, we have enough dancers!), head spinning and dancing dudes (they were cool), sword swallower, weird fire girl, bra-the that could sing, Xclusive-the dude who moves his body really awesomely to songs, beats, sounds, etc. You can cast your vote here...this is a VERY hard choice for me. I think I'm going to vote for xclusive...but there are a couple I wish I could have take the place of others who did make it;-(

So I missed 1 of them-how did that happen? Makes me so mad that I could...errrrrr....rewatch it!


Who didn't make it? (which they showed very little of for most of the show):
-R&B singer that was heavy
-50 yr old sword swallower-who swallows curved swords and I think it was amazing but again, how could that be an hour plus show in Vegas???
-Southern bells (dancers)
-keyboard dude with mustache
-singing brunette older gal
-purple haired fire playing with girl
-little kid singer boy
-dancing couple
-dudes that dance and stuff on their heads-ouch (they were awesome and I'm surprised they didn't get thru)
-Dude that can dance very creatively to music and sounds and I am ticked that he didn't make it-he was awesome-AWESOME!
-Dad dude who lost his ability to speak let alone sing (he was in a car accident that severed his vocal cords) -and sung Josh Grobin beautifully. And should've made it. It was very sad to hear his exit interview;-(
-Clogging kiddos-very sad to see them cry

Plus 8 others who went home that I either missed or they didn't show on air-UGH!!!!

Oh and can I just mention that Jerry Springer is worthless on the show-am I wrong here?

One other thing that irritates me is how they put these competitors into groupings of likeness and then compare their subcategory but they shouldn't do that per se. They should let in the 40 best and if all 40 are singers or whatever, they should get in and not on variety. But, it's a ratings show so that stinks.



I can't believe I (we) have to wait until September 3rd to see more AGT...are you kidding me-I mean, I love the Olympics (it's my secret-but now out of the bag-dream for Owen to be an Olympian gold medal winner someday-gymnastics I think-but come on...that's a month away!!!! Ugh, Ugh, TRIPLE lutz UGH!

That's all I've got man-Renay OUT!

Our Ortho visit, a bad Storm, travels, and my AGT announcement...

I actually did a double take of this photo-I thought it was Jake for a moment-the bandaid gave it away;-)


Owen had his Indy ortho consult today...


The drive down went smoothly, landing us there almost 1/2 hour early...which means we waited for 1 hour and 5 minutes before being called back and then 15 more minutes in the exam room. In the photo, Owen had just arrived and was joyful agreeing to a photo op with the "fishies" behind him. Just for perspective, his outfit is a 12 month outfit and it's obviously a bit big (but cute none-the-less). Also to note, our arms should come down to about mid-thigh-even though Owen is in clothes, you can still see how his arms are not quite to mid-thigh, but they also aren't only to his waist, which is good. Oh, and his new shoes are size fours...in infants-so hopefully we will be in toddler shoes soon as infant walking shoes are hard to find since infants shouldn't walk, he, he.

The Dr. was very nice. He didn't feel he could help us at this point but agrees that Owen's walking is "bowed" somewhat and such. He doesn't think it is CP related or anything though and he thinks it's just how Owen is made, coupled with learning to walk with a big ole noggin. So, he offered to see him yearly and watch him closely but reassured me that we are doing all we can with PT and orthotics.

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Quite the storm passed through Tuesday morning-complete with house rattling thunder, terrifying lightening strikes,flooding rains and damaging winds.

It was just Saturday that I photographed my prized sunflowers...I am sad to report the following as a result of the storm:




Surveying the damage:





I think we may be able to salvage 1 stalk...out of 10+...isn't that sad? They were actually blown over and pulled up at the roots.

I must admit-we really needed the rain but whoa...I really wish the sunflowers had made it. I am thankful that the damage stopped there and our (nor our neighbors) properties were damaged (I know this sentence is full of grammatical errors-ugh).

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Later this week we are off to Wisconsin to see my mom-Grama Becca, as the boys call her. We are all so excited to visit for one last hoorah before school starts. They have a boat and will take the boys fishing...I get sea sick just looking at small floating vessels so please pray that the Rx I got for sea sickness helps;-) I also get to see my baby sis Amanda and my BIL Jason-they just celebrated their one year anniversary;-)

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And onto my addiction: TV...

I followed Kim's blog this winter as she commentated (is that a word?) on American Idol. I know I will not be in the same realm as her with satisfying commentary, but I think I will do my own commentary re: America's Got Talent-loving referred to herein as AGT. This Thursday night the top 40 will be revealed and I plan to tell you all what I think about it...I must be honest-I already have my favorites. So do I have any fellow readers/watchers who will come out (delurk???) and join my plans to "commentate" each week??? Please join me...you know you want to. Come on....c'mon-please. So I'll start my rant now...but tune in Thursday night at 9:30pm on nbc to see the top 40. Join me, the 3 fab judges-Sharon Osborne (who I really enjoy her sweet candor that she brings to the platform plus, she is credited with creating and producing the first reality celebrity TV show-but I never saw it;-), David Hasselhoff (who incidentally is in the Guinness book of world records for being the most watched TV star in the world-I mean-who can go wrong with Knight Rider and Baywatch?), and Piers Morgan (who was so fab in my show The Apprentice-even though I wanted Trace Atkins to win;-). Plus, my man Simon Cowell is the executive producer so really, who can go wrong???

Happy 21 months Owen Elijah!

Wow- How did a year and 3/4's pass by so fast? Seriously.

Owen is full of personality. He has the most expressive eyes and says a ton just by the way he looks at us;-).




Here are his 21 month stats:



Weight= 18 pounds 15 ounces...could the kid just hit the 19 pound mark please? He is dropping off his own curve and trying to drive me to an early grave with concern. He's holding steady at the weight of an average healthy 7 1/2 month old-Geesh! I'm seriously surprised CPS hasn't been brought into our home due to his lack of growth;-(

Height= 30 inches...finally a chart he might be catching up on a little...he's actually now the height of an average healthy 12 1/2 month old.



Head size has stayed steady at 47cm...which is also falling off the growth charts...down from just at the 25th percentile 2-3 months ago to now just hovering over the 10th percentile. Now, I'm not super worried about this and it's way better than excessive growth since he had that mild benign hydrocephalus we were watching a year ago. Speaking of a year ago...I can't believe we were trekking back and forth to Chicago each week for his Doc band just a year ago. That seems like forever ago and I really feel that God gave me an unreal peace about those travels and times as I now shudder to think of doing that all over (but when we were doing it, it wasn't that bad;-).




Anyway, all this growth stuff to say, Owen is still small. Big shocker. He looks bigger to me though. He doesn't look like he is in only the 3rd percentile for weight for length charts (a chart that does not take age into account, just size:-). I even plotted him on the SGA (small for gestational age) charts just to try to make myself feel better but it didn't help since he still wasn't landing on their smallest curves. Why do I do this to myself month after month? I guess I'm just always hoping he will "catch up"...what I would give to know how tall he will be someday. My other issue is since he is so Small in the weight arena, I struggle to know if I should try to force calories (like high calorie drinks and such. I know this is a question for his MD...I'm just venting here.

As for communication, he is saying more words and can sign about anything we ask him to now-he's been a very fast learner of signs. He still gets frustrated at times trying to communicate with us-for example wen he knows what he wants to eat but doesn't know how to convey pop tart since he can't say Pop tart. We let him point a lot;-)

He has 10 teeth-or is it 12, I can't remember about those upper molars, but it's 12 if he has those too. So he's just missing the canine teeth. His smile is so precious and we LOVE his belly laugh. Speaking of bellies...he's into them-a phase I hope passes very soon or I'll lose friends over him continually picking up my shirt to make sure my belly is still there. I try to assure him-it is indeed still there-I wish it were gone, but it's definitely here;-)



He loves our neighbor kids Hannah (7), Gracie (4), and Chase (9) and will pretty much come out of any mood to play with them. He hugs and kisses them. He waves and such. It's a very cute relationship and they love him too!




Onto boo-boos...remember the head injury from last week...well, it was healing pretty well but I've caught him picking at it a lot so now I'm tyring a band aid to see if he will leave it alone-if not, he'll end up with a heck of a scar.

He has his appt with the orthopedic MD this week. I figure nothing will come of it but feel it's prudent to make sure the pt we are doing is enough. And I guess I didn't mention it but he got cute new little nike's shoes since he is now in a size 4 shoe! I just got him some jeans and the 6-12 month jeans from old navy are a little long but will hopefully work out this fall. He's pretty much in all 9-12 month clothes. We put him in size 4 diapers but really the 3's were fine.

He starts childcare in ONE MONTH! He will start right in with the 2's classroom;-( Oh, where did my baby go? I've talked alot with the director of the facility and she is not at all concerned about his small size and believes other kids at most will call him a baby, but I don't think he'll even care (for now). She said they will correct kids when they do that and of course teasing and such isn't allowed-not to mention how much can these 2 year olds really say? Here's what I'm saying...can you say potty training? I'm stoked that maybe someone else can do that yucky job;-)

Alright, I better scoot since his Speech session starts shortly-)

A neat day and a new toy!

So much to share...so many pics (and some video too;-)! First off, I was able to go out today for the afternoon to a pool party with women from my Bible Study group called Heart to Heart, a ministry of Elston Family Church. It was a delightful time. Awesome company, awesome yum-yums, super unbelievably awesome yard-courtesy of Katie who apparently has one of the neatest (and best kept secrets) yards and most talented hubby ever;-). Oh, and the pool-WOW! So here are some shots: Me under water saying "cheese";-) I asked the girls for a splashing picture and first they splashed me;-( But then I got them to splash the water...Amy (left) thought I was a dork;-) My fav pic I took-Jessica agreed to go under and let me take her picture and it turned out so cute...understandably I was not allowed to shoot too many bathing suit pics of us flabby mommas;-) Kara's pretty nails;-) Katie's beautiful diving board and flag:-) Six hot mommas on one gorgeous day! Six hot mommas being sassy-I mean splashy;-)! Me taking the plunge! Hot tub time:-) April (right) wasn't too thrilled about me having a camera at a pool party;-) Gotcha! Also, there was a smudge got on the lens-oops;-) Amy enjoying the jets;-) Here is some video footage:


Are you wondering anything right now? Like "Oh my goodness, what's with your camera?". I'm glad you asked...Well, it's my new toy;-)! Ya-who! Isn't it cool? I'm not well versed in cameras but what I know about it is, it has a moderate price point and as far as functions go, it is water proof to 30ish feet and shock/crush proof. It's freeze proof too but I don't forsee that being a feature I use too often;-). It has cruddy zoom but tons o' megapixels-like 10 or something crazy! So, it was a great day and here's how I ended it-thanks again Katie for the tomaters! Yep, home grown Fried green tomatoes! Yum-o! Lastly, here's a bunch of other random photos I've shot with this camera as I played with different features, etc. I won't label each one for time's sake but you can see that the boys have a renewed hobby (puzzles), my sunflowers are out of control, we were trying out the action mode with the boys jumping and Owen is as ornery as ever;-)


Have a blessed Sunday!